Marketing & Communication

DENTON — TWU’s new student regent is determined to be a leader who makes a difference both in her university and professional career.

Junior Adriana Blanco is TWU’s first Hispanic and first, first-generation student regent. She is enrolled in the TWU and University of North Texas dual degree program in engineering and math, majoring in math at TWU and electrical engineering at UNT.

Ms. Blanco is a student leader at both TWU and UNT. She has served as president of the TWU Campus Activities Board (CAB), vice president of the TWU Student Government Association, vice president of UNT’s Society of Women’s Engineers and as a TWU student orientation leader. She is a member of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, the TWU National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the UNT chapter of Eta Kappa Nu – the honor society for Electrical Engineers. She also is a recipient of the TWU Presidential Scholarship and the UNT Siemens Scholarship.

It was in her role as TWU CAB president that she was responsible for bringing poet and author Maya Angelou to the Denton campus in March.

“I wanted to ‘reach for the stars’ to bring a dynamic, nationally known speaker to campus to show our students what CAB could do,” Ms. Blanco said. “I learned so much from making the initial contact with Dr. Angelou to coordinating her visit with TWU staff. It is an experience that I will never forget.”

Ms. Blanco’s determination to make a difference extends to her future career plans. She wants to be an electrical engineer and implement “green” electricity in third world countries.

“Having electricity is so important to the development of communities that have nothing,” Ms. Blanco said. “I believe that there are many ways we can help people in need get access to electricity using methods that don’t harm the environment.”

It is this drive to succeed that caused Ms. Blanco to want to be the TWU student regent.

“I want to continue to make a difference at my university and learn how the system works, so I can be a good advocate for students and do what I can to make TWU even better,” Ms. Blanco said.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Ms. Blanco to a one-year term as the TWU student regent, which will expire May 31, 2013. She is replacing Christina Wagoner of Carrollton.

In 2005, Gov. Perry signed legislation mandating that each public university board of regents include one student member. Student regents have the same powers and duties as the other members of the board, with the exceptions of voting and being counted to determine a quorum.